I agree with you on safety on Wolf lake.
Last Saturday was NW wind 10-20 at time when finally it died leaving me with kite down being drag to shore pass the island , where my kite landed on a tree. My other friend who was with me did just water body dragging and he had hard time keeping his kite away from shore.

sorry james, I had to leave at 2 for work.. as far as the conditions, when I got there at about 930 or so, it was barely side-off and gusty.. we did get some good near shore riding in.. right at about 12:30 it picked up and was very ridable.. the further out you went the smoother it was, but still was gusty..

yeah that flysurfer is a wild beast luckily for the suit, shoulder is doing good. no battle wounds to show the girlfriend.
glad I took the day off though, a bit of a teaser wind conditions, but good times for sure.
was that your other kite I saw in the dumpster in the parking lot?

So I got a lesson today..my first one actually. any way, I'm happy to announce I got on the board and actually stayed on it LOL .

The water was grate, but the wind was kinda gusty I think... all I know, is I made a mistake open my 14m instead the 9m (...got lazy to replace), resulting the kite to be at over depower and still stay up (!).

no dumpster story, just a bad joke..
yeah that could have gotten a whole lot uglier if it weren't for Rick. So thanks for sure!
I felt the lines get tangled in my harness, and didn't have time to think of what to do. hope you're ok, I didn't even see where you were in that mess

Ivo, hope your board finds a new happy home, maybe you'll pick it up in waukegan next week

maz wrote:Ivo, hope your board finds a new happy home, maybe you'll pick it up in waukegan next week

ahh,my boards traveled home with me,Im trying to not break it up that tradition..

As far from the direction of the wind I would say there is 1200$ in the water between Miller and South Haven..Just from what I saw today on the beach I was very supriced and happy that everybody did drive home alive!!!Some crazy stunt kitesurfing,,at one point it felt I would be much safer on the beach and once I get there,parking lot was probably the best idea

IVO wrote:Just from what I saw today on the beach I was very supriced and happy that everybody did drive home alive!!!Some crazy stunt kitesurfing,,at one point it felt I would be much safer on the beach

HA! Not that I'm not a Noob but it did seem as if there was a bit of "well, let's throw it up there and see what happens".. at one point, it looked a bit like amateur hour on the water heh, not really a lot of calculation of risk.. but it worked out..

I found my board miles down from miller. Did 1hr of riding 5 of walking.
The other guy lost 2 boards managed to find one. we stayed to late hours to see if it was washed out on the beach. to make meters worse, someone took or stole this guy pump and bag with the keys to his car, making his wife drive from Chicago.
On the other note I have to say, it is funny for some to say that there are boards (expensive boards) floating in water, however, this could be easily avoided if some of you veterans would simply ask the guy down in water for 1/2 hr if he is ok. I guess when you are passing me 20 meters away it is too much to ask or help for some of you! very sad and upsetting to find that on Miller beach.
What goes around, comes around?
I would like to thank Peter who took his time and went downwind to try to help find my board.

What constitutes a veteran? Most of those i'd consider veterans generally don't ride offshore conditions.

We're a community, we should always watch out for each other. Most of the guys I know that have been kiting for several years wouldn't have turned their back on ya. Having said that, l need to follow it with a Kiting in off shore conditions is a recipe for disaster. You guys are lucky you lost a board

Well you should add that it is a rider responsibility to retrieve his board.
I get it, I get it all. If I see someone in distress I would not try to make excuses either this guy needs to learn things the hard way; I would simply offer help.
But hey,, what do I know? I'm just a newbie.

ironben wrote:I found my board miles down from miller. Did 1hr of riding 5 of walking.The other guy lost 2 boards managed to find one. we stayed to late hours to see if it was washed out on the beach. to make meters worse, someone took or stole this guy pump and bag with the keys to his car, making his wife drive from Chicago.On the other note I have to say, it is funny for some to say that there are boards (expensive boards) floating in water, however, this could be easily avoided if some of you veterans would simply ask the guy down in water for 1/2 hr if he is ok. I guess when you are passing me 20 meters away it is too much to ask or help for some of you! very sad and upsetting to find that on Miller beach. What goes around, comes around?I would like to thank Peter who took his time and went downwind to try to help find my board.

First of all,that guy who stole that bag was me,I and Peter were leaving last,I noticed the bag..as far as tradition among kitesurfer goes,last one on the beach take care of the stuff on the beach so next day you are not going to get angry on yourself,how lightheaded you are left the board,bag,bars ect.on the beach and be happy that somebody pick your stuff up and not some dude from Gary!I already made a post about this first thing once I get home..

now on the other note,I put the kite down for quit a bit a time today,because condition were very sketchy at best..I would never toutch the water trying to learn this sport in wind direction like today,no need to talk about cold water ect..do you have idea why this boards were not coming to the beach?Because it was off shore,dirty winds..!!!!

What goes around,comes around?Hell,I tried to stay upwind as much as possible from what I saw as stunt kitesurfing..Still shaking my head how somebody has that nerves go out very,very,very far and LEARN..hence numerous boards lost.Never blame others,blame only yourself!And be sure as Cory reply to you,you and others were very lucky that it end up with just a lost boards..

1.never kite alone,always have somebody with enough experince keeping a eye on you

Not here to argue , I'm just surprised I haven't seen any of you "experts" and "newbies" in Michigan City where W and WSW is nice side shore and clean , not to mention the protection of the jetty and huge sandy beach with parking lot right there. All this 20 minutes from Miller !!!

Wooowww...... what happened at Miller ? I was there from 1 to 4 with all good guys... I guess it all happened after I left.
I'm a noob, had a lesson, enjoy my day, staid safe and kept my energy in the water...